Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Genaker, a provider of Mission Critical Push-to-talk (MC-PTT) solutions, based in Barcelona, Spain.

The acquisition strengthens Ericsson’s MC-PTT offering as the mission critical communications and private network market is going through a significant technology shift. Traditionally, public safety communications have relied on private land mobile radio (LMR) networks limited to simple push-to-talk (“walkie talkie”) functionality. With increasing demand for exchange of other types of data, such as pictures and videos, the legacy LMR networks need to be replaced, and cellular networks have proven to be the best fit for existing and emerging requirements.

Ericsson has been a pioneer in Mission Critical Push-to-talk over 3GPP technology and has been driving the standardization from the start in 3GPP release 12. Ericsson is now taking the next step by investing in the MC-PTT applications and clients of Genaker. The acquisition is a building block in Ericsson’s focus on strengthening service providers’ capabilities towards mission critical users.

Monica Zethzon, Head of Solution Area Communication Services, Ericsson, says: “We have worked with Genaker as a partner in Mission Critical Applications for many years and we are now taking this step to further strengthen our end-to-end offering. We’re really excited that the Genaker team is joining us and that we can bring the value of their expertise to our customers.“

Miquel Teixidor, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Genaker, says: “It is an honor that Genaker becomes the base of Ericsson’s global MC-PTT offering. Together we will leverage the best of the two companies, and we’re excited about this opportunity to offer customers around the world our next-generation MC-PTT solution.” 

With the ongoing transformation of public safety communications, new opportunities arise for both telecom service providers and traditional MC-PTT operators. Ericsson’s MC-PTT solution was recently selected by Southern Linc, a U.S. communications service provider, who will provide the solution to its utility and public sector entity customers, as well as selected businesses.

Genaker, located in Barcelona, Spain, was founded in 2004 and employs around 30 people, all of whom will transfer to Ericsson as part of the acquisition.